Game Preview: Checkers vs. San Antonio (March 5, 2015)

The Checkers will look to maintain their newfound momentum at home as they host the San Antonio Rampage for the final time this season.

The game will be a quick rematch of the Checkers’ 3-2 shootout victory on Wednesday in which Drew MacIntyre stopped 40 shots in regulation and overtime and six more in the shootout. A win would extend the team’s home winning streak to five games, tying a franchise record set in November of 2011.

The back-to-back against San Antonio begins a five-game home stand that continues with games against Norfolk and Grand Rapids next week.

Charlotte

It’s been an up-and-down stretch for the Checkers, who won three straight at home two weeks ago only to lose the first three games of a subsequent road trip through Canada. Since then, they’ve won two in a row beginning with Saturday’s game in Hamilton and the first matchup with San Antonio, both of which went to overtime.

Both wins came without key players, with Chad LaRose and Keegan Lowe missing both games and perhaps the rest of the season due to injury and defensive mainstay Rasmus Rissanen joining Michal Jordan and Ryan Murphy in the NHL with Carolina.

“This is our team and what we have right now and we’ve got to make it work,” said coach Jeff Daniels following Wednesday's game. “Tonight we made it work.”

The Checkers do still have one of their most important players in Drew MacIntyre, who rebounded from a 1-5-0 month of February with a stellar performance on Wednesday.

“It’s been quite a struggle since the All-Star break and it’s been tough mentally to stay positive,” said MacIntyre, who had allowed four or more goals in five of his previous eight starts.

Aside from everything else he did Wednesday, MacIntyre also stopped a penalty shot with the game tied late in regulation.

“That’s Mac,” said Daniels. “He shuts the door when there’s a breakdown and gives us a chance to win.”

Though MacIntyre has played the entirety of all six games against San Antonio this season, posting a 2-2-2 record with a 2.39 goals-against average and .923 save percentage, the Checkers will likely turn to John Muse tonight given the tight turnaround and their recent scheduling. The only two goaltenders the Checkers have used all season have taken turns starting over each of the team’s last 11 games since Feb. 7. Muse has won four of hi last five.

A defensive unit rocked by recalls and injuries will need to put in a performance similar to Wednesday’s to help whatever goalie the Checkers use. Regulars Trevor Carrick (1g, 1a) and Danny Biega (shootout winner) certainly did their part, with Dennis Robertson and Beau Schmitz doing well in increased roles and recent ECHL additions Mike Cornell and Austin Levi also looking solid.

“Especially when there’s new guys playing new positions, it’s really important to keep it simple," said Biega. "We didn’t complicate things, we just kept it as simple as we could and got rewarded for it.”

After serving a one-game suspension for charging on Wednesday, Brock McGinn, who has six points in his last seven games, should be back in the lineup tonight.

San Antonio

The Rampage wrap up their 11-game “Rodeo Road Trip” with tonight’s rematch in Charlotte and will be looking to put themselves back on the right track.

San Antonio has dropped two straight games coming into tonight and needs to right the ship to keep pace in a tight Western Conference playoff race. The Rampage currently sit as the sixth seed in the conference standings but are just six points ahead of the ninth-place Chicago Wolves. With 20 games remaining on its schedule, each point becomes crucial for San Antonio down the stretch.

The Rampage offensive attack has been prolific this season, establishing itself as one of the most dangerous in the league and currently ranking second overall in terms of goals per game. But it has sputtered during this rough patch, recording just two goals total in the two losses. The dynamic trio of Bobby Butler, Mark Mancari and Connor Brickley have combined for just two goals in the team’s last three games.

Stepping up to try to replace that lost production has been blueliner Shane O’Brien and rookie Rocco Grimaldi. O’Brien leads all San Antonio defensemen in scoring and has three points (2g, 1a) in his three games since returning from a stint in the NHL with the Panthers. Grimaldi, a quick, undersized forward, leads Rampage rookies in scoring and lit the lamp last night to give him two points in his last three games.    

The entire Florida organization saw a big shake up following the Panthers losing both of their goalies in the same game on Tuesday night. Dan Ellis, who has been the main netminder in San Antonio, was called up to Florida, as was the organization’s top ECHL goalie Sam Brittain. This left the Rampage with Michael Houser as their starter and emergency ECHL call-up Joe Howe as their back up.

Houser, who has struggled most of this season, entered last night on his hottest streak of the season, with wins in each of his previous three starts. He stood strong against the Checkers, allowing just two goals and stopping the first five shootout attempts, but a nifty move from Danny Biega fooled Houser in the shootout and the Rampage emerged with just one point.

Checkers Notes

Against San Antonio

Tonight marks the seventh of eight meetings between the Checkers and San Antonio this season, with Charlotte holding a record of 2-2-2. Three games have gone to overtime, with San Antonio winning the first during the seven-minute period and the Checkers winning the next two in the shootout. In 26 all-time contests between the two clubs, the Checkers hold a 14-10-2 record, including a 8-4-1 mark in Charlotte.

With Chad LaRose (six points), Michal Jordan (four) and Ryan Murphy (four) out of the lineup tonight, the Checkers' top active scorers against San Antonio this season are Justin Shugg (2g, 1a) and Trevor Carrick (2g, 1a). Bobby Butler (3g, 3a) and Rocco Grimaldi (1g, 5a) - sit atop San Antonio's side of the head-to-head leaderboard.

In goal, Charlotte's Drew MacIntyre played the entirety of all six matchups, posting a 2.39 goals-against average and .923 save percentage. Meanwhile, Muse has won five of his six career starts against the Rampage. San Antonio's Michael Houser is 2-0-1 with a 2.25 GAA and .927 SV% against the Checkers this season, while Joe Howe has never played an AHL game.

San Antonio coach Tom Rowe coached the Carolina Hurricanes' AHL affiliates in Lowell and Albany prior to switching places with current Checkers coach Jeff Daniels, who was an assistant with the Hurricanes at the time, prior to the 2008-09 season.

Home Cooking

The Checkers have won each of their last four games at Time Warner Cable Arena dating back to Feb. 16, which ties their longest streak of the season and puts them one shy of the franchise record set from Nov. 20-30, 2011. Their home record is now firmly above .500 at 15-11-2.

Meanwhile, the Checkers lost three games of a four-game trip to Canada last week and are now 7-18-4 on the road, with their 18 points earned away from home marking the fewest of any AHL team.

Winning Streaks

Since Feb. 16, the Checkers have posted a season-high three-game winning streak (Feb. 16-19) and an active two-game winning streak (Feb. 28-March 4). Prior to that, they had won consecutive games on only one occasion - a two-game home sweep of Milwaukee on Nov. 29-30.

Boychuk's Back

Reigning AHL goal-scoring champion Zach Boychuk has found his scoring touch of late with five goals and seven points in his last eight games. That gives him one more point than he scored in his first 13 games following his reassignment from Carolina on Jan. 8.

Five of Boychuk's nine goals this season have come on the power play, putting him one behind Chad LaRose for the team lead in that category and making him responsible for 20 percent of the team's total despite playing in only 23 games. Boychuk led the AHL with 18 power-play goals last season, with that total accounting for exactly half of his team-record 36 on the campaign.

Boychuk is the Checkers' all-time leader with 111 goals and 51 power-play goals in 265 games played.

Extra Hockey

Each of the Checkers' last two games have gone to overtime, with both resulting in wins. In their five AHL seasons, the Checkers have played three consecutive overtime games four times (most recently from April 12-16, 2013) but have never won all three.

Charlotte is 6-6 in overtime games this season, including a 2-5 mark in overtime and a 4-1 record in the shootout.

Shootout Success

The Checkers' four shootout victories this season (4-1 record) are tied for the second-highest total in the league behind San Antonio and Lehigh Valley (both 5-1).

Charlotte has accomplished that feat despite scoring just five goals on 23 attempts (.217, 21st AHL). Meanwhile, their goaltending tandem of Drew MacIntyre (19 saves on 20 attempts) and John Muse (three saves on four attempts) has given the Checkers the third-best save percentage in the league at .916 percent. In MacIntyre's only shootout loss of the season, he stopped seven of eight while receiving no goals of support. MacIntyre is tied for third in the AHL with three shootout victories, having stopped all comers in each win.

Important Games

Tonight's game concludes a stretch in which the the Checkers played 13 of 14 games against teams currently ranked between sixth and 15th in the Western Conference. Thus far during the stretch, which started Jan. 30, the Checkers have posted a record of 5-8-0 against those teams. Two of the victories were against the only team trailing them in the conference, the Iowa Wild.

Killing It

Shane O'Brien's power-play goal in the Checkers' game against San Antonio on March 4 ended a streak in which the Checkers killed 20 consecutive penalties. The streak, which contained seven full games without a power-play goal allowed since Feb. 16, was the team's second-longest streak of the season. The Checkers killed 25 conscutive penalties from Dec. 19-Jan. 7.

Charlotte's penalty kill ranks 10th in the league at 85.5 percent. The Checkers are tied for sixth in the league with seven shorthanded goals, which are two behind the league lead and four more than their AHL-low total from all of last season.

Brock's Breakout

After going 29 games without a goal (Nov. 30) and 20 games without a point (Dec. 29), Checkers rookie forward Brock McGinn has found the back of the net five times in his last eight games (5g, 1a). That stretch includes a four-game goal streak, tied for the longest by a Checkers player this season. McGinn has scored at least one goal in eight games this season, with the Checkers posting a 6-2-0 record in those contests.

McGinn, who scored 43 goals in his final junior hockey campaign with Guelph last season, has recorded two multi-goal games this season (Nov. 21 and Feb. 18). He is tied for third on the team with 10 goals and tied for fourth with 19 points in 54 games, tying him with Phil Di Giuseppe for the lead among all Checkers rookies.

McGinn is expected to return from his second one-game suspension of the season (charging) tonight.

Welcome Back Alex

Since returning from the ECHL's Florida Everblades on Jan. 4, forward Alex Aleardi has posted 14 points (8g, 6a) in 20 games, including eight in his last 10 (5g, 3a). He is tied for the Checkers lead in scoring behind Chad LaRose (14 points in 20 games) during that time.

Aleardi, an undrafted forward who the Checkers signed to an AHL contract during the offseason, has 37 points (18g, 19a) in 76 career AHL contests with Springfield and Charlotte. He scored 19 points (8g, 11a) in 16 ECHL games with the Everblades this season.

We Meet Again

This week's series against San Antonio marks the 23rd time the Checkers have faced the same opponent in two consecutive games this season. They are a combined 6-13-4 in the first halves of those series and are 12-9-1 in the second.

In those two-game series, the Checkers have won both games twice (against Milwaukee on Nov. 29 and 30 and agianst Iowa on Feb. 18 and 19) and have suffered five sweeps (vs. Grand Rapids on Oct. 17-18, at San Antonio on Nov. 14-15, at Oklahoma City on Nov. 21-22, vs. Chicago on Feb. 6-7 and at Toronto on Feb. 22 and 25).

Penalty Shot Party

Including one saved by Drew MacIntyre against San Antonio on March 4, the Checkers have been involved in seven penalty shot situations this season. That amount, which breaks down to four attempts for (with one goal scored) and three attemps against (with one goal scored), breaks a tie with the inaugural 2010-11 campaign to set a new single-season franchise record. In the three seasons between, the Checkers were involved in seven total penalty shot situations.

The Checkers were involved in two penalty shot situations in the same game for the first time in team history on Jan. 31 of this season, with Texas goalie Jussi Rynnas stopping attempts by Alex Aleardi and Zach Boychuk.

Quick Hits

• Drew MacIntyre ranks second in the league with 1,076 saves and fourth with 2,182 minutes played
• Danny Biega's shootout goal on March 4 was the first of his AHL career (two attempts, both this season)
• The Checkers have scored the game's first goal in 16 of their 22 wins this season
• Charlotte has scored a power-play goal in four of its last five games

Streaks

• Zach Boychuk has goals and points in each of his last two games (2g, 1a)
• Trevor Carrick has assists and points in each of his last two games (1g, 2a)
• Phil Di Giuseppe has assists and points in each of his last two games (0g, 2a)

Injuries

• Keegan Lowe - missed two games starting 2/27
• Chad LaRose - missed four games starting 2/25
• Gabriel Desjardins - missed 24 games starting 1/4
• Greg Nemisz - missed 36 games starting 12/8 (out for season)

Milestones

• Jared Staal is three shy of 50 pro points and three shy of 100 AHL penalty minutes
• Zach Boychuk is four shy of 450 professional games and five shy of 200 AHL penalty minutes
• Kyle Hagel is 17 shy of 1,000 professional penalty minutes
• Mike Cornell recorded his 250th professional penalty minutes on March 4

Transactions

Incoming

• March 3 - (D) Austin Levi recalled to Charlotte (AHL) from Stockton (AHL)
• March 3 - (C) Sean Dolan signed to PTO from South Carolina (ECHL)

Outgoing

• March 2 - (D) Rasmus Rissanen recalled to Carolina (NHL) from Charlotte